I was training a group of people recently on addressing any limitations that might prevent them from hitting their 3-5 year goals. What became clear is that the limitations we carry around in our minds are running the show in some areas of our lives. They’re what we observe the world through.

This group went further than just looking at the standard self-limiting ideas like I’m busy or don’t have time, but looked more deeply into the subtle limitations that have so much evidence to support them that we stop questioning whether they’re true or not. The one that came up the most was about the economy, and how it hasn’t recovered, and won’t for a long time. What was significant was how that limitation shaped what people could set as a goal.  Read more...

Those of us who are looking to transform our lives can stop looking for transformation. You may be thinking, am I stuck with things just the way they are? Can nothing change?

No!

However there may be another way to look at change. I was working with Dr. Roger Teel the senior minister of the Mile Hi Church in Denver, Colorado recently. He said something that was as controversial as it was illuminating. I’m paraphrasing, but what I got was:

Transformation becomes obsolete when you become an evolutionary agent.

After our meeting, I scurried back to my hotel room and looked up the meaning of evolutionary and agent. Here’s what I found.

Evolutionary: the gradual development of something from a simple to a more complex form. Think of this as different from transformation, which is a dramatic change in form.  Read more...

This saying exploded into my consciousness when a colleague and I were discussing mistakes that blocked personal performance. I made a comment about learning from mistakes, and he looked me in the eyes and said, “Paulette, I’m not interested in people learning from their mistakes, I want them to do it right the first time!” I’ll never forget it. It was unarguably correct.

If you do it right the first time there’s no one to blame, not you or other people, conditions or circumstances. You can’t even blame the weather! You think in advance about what will produce the results you’re looking for. You don’t think about what’s expedient, you think through the right course of action. You don’t blame others for how hard it is to achieve what you want.

You come quickly to an understanding that there’s no power in blame, there is, however, plenty of power in doing things right.  Read more...

Most of the time I notice the self-limiting statements we make about ourselves and others, but when I go for a run my higher self is usually in charge, and is flooding me with wisdom statements as well as endorphins. Since I find that most limiting statements are self-imposed, I wondered if we could impose a little wisdom.

First, how do you know if it’s your higher self? Well … that’s easy. There’s no residue. No regrets and nothing to clean up! My higher self doesn’t complain or ask for anything. When my base self is in action, there are apologies to make, diets to follow, and missed opportunities for a deeper conversation or insight.

These are 5 of the wisdom statements from my higher self that I’ve collected over the years. It’s increasingly clear that the core of these statements are steeped in awareness, and as our website boldly declares, awareness itself is the teacher. Try these on, if you like, and see how they work for you.  Read more...

Stop being busy? How do you start to even consider this idea, when it feels like life is coming at you at 100 miles per hour? It’s actually a simple idea; you start with a change of mindset, not a change of circumstances.

I read an article by Leo Babauta, creator of zenhabits.net, called The End Of Busy. It came in the knick of time. Somewhere in the dark reaches of my mind, I had the wisdom to print this article and tuck it away in my papers, where it stayed for 2 months until I read it recently. Now I’m in the midst of being really busy, not just the everyday busy, but packing, moving, working, recruiting, consulting and seeing friends who are coming to say au revoir, “until we meet again” in Santa Barbara!  Read more...